Park City, Utah
Park City Municipal Corporation retained EPS to evaluate the economic and financial impacts of a summer public market, called the Park Silly Sunday Market, on downtown retail businesses. EPS’s multidisciplinary team of consultants conducted multiple targeted surveys directed at downtown businesses, market vendors, and market customers to quantify average daily business volumes by market segment and by type of establishment in the public market and in the downtown business district.
EPS analyzed historic sales tax and lodging reports to establish trend lines before and after the opening of the Sunday Market. EPS also worked with businesses along its Main Street to understand and quantify the impacts of the Sunday Market, which varied by business location (i.e., close to the Market compared with those several blocks away) and business type (i.e., goods that compete with Market vendors compared wit non-competitive goods). The final product compared the positive and negative impacts of the Sunday Market on Main Street businesses and was presented to Council members to inform their decision regarding a multiple-year agreement with the Market proprietors regarding the continuation of Sunday Market operations on Main Street. Based on the results of the study and subsequent negotiations, the Council and the Market reached a seven-year agreement keeping the Market on Main Street in Park City.